Two different things

Today, my neighborhood has a big Grand Opening.

On Monday, they put up those flashing road signs on the west and east-bound sides of the road this business is located.

GRAND OPENING 11/15/07 -- EXPECT DELAYS

When we started looking for a home to buy here about 3.5 years ago, we found out from the home sales person that this business would be built in the shopping area a mile from our new home. YEAH!

We moved into our home about 2.5 years ago. There were no indications of building the business. Like I said, this business is opening today. TODAY! After learning about it 3.5 years ago, this place is finally opening. Woohoo!

What is the business? IN-N-OUT BURGER!

Until September, the closest franchise was 1.5 hours away. They did finally open ONE franchise in our city in September, but it's about 20 miles away. It's right near the university...so I'm sure it's always busy. So there is NO WAY that we'd drive down there.

Now....for those of you who know the place, you know In-N-Out then you know what the draw it has. Simple menu. Everything cooked perfectly -- every single time. And those milk shakes? So thick and yummy. This place has the BEST fresh french fries. My kids love them. They cut the fries on-site -- not frozen at all.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yesterday, the tire shop called me and let me know that my "special" tires were in. The Princess and I had dropped by the place on Monday and found out that my tires were not in stock. The manager called around locally and found that the closest place to get my tires was in California. So....I had to wait to get the new tires installed. So thankfully, the tires were delivered quickly and I made an appointment to get them installed as there was an hour wait when the manager called.

So, I got to the place and saw a totally burned up Cadillac and a partially burned red Miata convertible in the parking lot. WTF! Apparently, the Cadillac did not belong to a customer. It belonged to someone who attended the community college a mile down the road. I guess the driver noticed that the car was smoking and drove it into the tire shop's parking lot. The driver was blasting music from these HUGE speakers that were in the trunk of the Cadillac. AND...due to the heat of the wires in the stereo system....the car caught on fire. The tire shop manager said the strangest thing was that the music continued to blast for a while even when the vehicle was fully engulfed. And sadly, the Miata caught on fire.

The red Miata was owned by the son of a guy whose car was getting new tires. The son had driven down with his father because they were going to go down the street to the YMCA and work-out while the father's car was getting a new set. But one of the technicians noticed that the one of the tires on the Miata looked really low. So the son decided to leave the Miata and get the tire taken care of. And the son and father walked the block and a half to the Y. After they worked out and were walking up the road, they noticed the smoke. Supposedly, the father joked with the son and said something like "That's probably your car on fire." Ha-ha-, right? Uh...no.

You should have seen the number of people who stopped and checked out the vehicles. Most took out their cell phones and took photos of the vehicles. It was weird. So many folks took photos!